System and method for targeted marketing and consumer resource management

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for providing targeted marketing to goods and services provides and consumer resource management services to consumers. An example system and method for targeted marketing comprises collecting transaction data from point-of-sale (POS) terminals and using a consumer identifier in the transaction data to access stored information about the consumer. This information may be used to target offers and advertisement to the consumer. In an example system for consumer resource management, a consumer may configure a consumer account on the enterprise infrastructure via a web-site. The consumer may use the consumer account to purchase and configure gift cards that may be used for purchasing goods and services. A universal transaction identifier may be associated with the consumer account and used to purchase goods and services from more than one selected goods and services providers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of, and claims priorityto U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/017,114 filed Sep. 3, 2013, whichis a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/842,540 filed Mar. 15, 2013 which is a continuation application ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/833,817 filed Mar. 15, 2013 which isa continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/828,017 filed Mar. 14, 2013 which is a continuation application ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/799,624 filed Mar. 13, 2013, whichis a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/670,124 filed Nov. 6, 2012, which is a continuation application ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/619,664 filed Sep. 14, 2012, whichis a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/375,377 filed on Nov. 30, 2009, which is a filing under 35 U.S.C. 371of International Application No. PCT/US07/16922 filed Jul. 27, 2007,entitled “System and Method for Targeted Marketing and Consumer ResourceManagement,” claiming priority of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 60/833,555 filed Jul. 27, 2006, which applications are incorporatedby reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to systems and methods for using computernetwork technology to provide consumers with resource managementcapabilities and to provide retailers, service providers andmanufacturers with enhanced marketing channels.

2. Description of Related Art

The Internet has evolved into an entire marketplace offering consumersthe ability to shop for goods and services and make transactionselectronically without leaving their home. The Internet has alsoexpanded distribution channels and ways of reaching consumers throughadvertising for retailers, service providers and manufacturers. TheInternet and a number of more evolutionary technologies have alsoevolved to provide retailers, service providers and manufacturers(“retailers”) with ways to attract consumers to their traditionalsources of goods. For example, many retailers sell gift cards that maybe redeemed at the retailers' stores for a predetermined amount. Manyretailers have also established loyalty programs, or awards programs,and some have provided consumers with access to accounts over theInternet. Retailers have also used the Internet to provide consumerswith coupons, and directed notices of offers and savings. Retailers mayobtain Marketing information about consumers to help them determinewhat's selling and what's not.

Despite the revolutionary growth of the Internet as a market place,there are frustrations faced by both consumers and retailers alike.Consumer frustration primarily centers on resource management issues(managing information, gift cards, coupons, receipts, spam, loyaltyprogram cards, rebates, etc). While gift cards have become popular,they've also become a source of confusion and clutter. A consumer cannotknow the balance on most gift cards without visiting the store, andoften, a consumer will have many gift cards from a wide variety ofretailers. Keeping track of the gift cards requires meticulousrecord-keeping. Many gift cards often end up being unused, providing noadvantage to the consumer and little advantage to the retailer. Inaddition to gift cards, consumers often experience frustration withhaving to store receipts, or receiving unsolicited offers by email, orhaving to keep track of many passwords to access many accounts forloyalty programs or award programs.

Retailer frustration centers on having poor access to consumer attentionand information. Consumers faced with an overwhelming number of offersand ads find it difficult to take advantage of such offers and adsleaving retailers clueless as to how successful their campaigns are, orwhat products are selling as a result of the campaigns, or who is buyingwhat products. Furthermore, retailers often direct a campaign to aparticular consumer that is wholly uninterested in the product orservice, or is uninterested at that particular time. Retailers generallyover communicate with consumers, hoping to catch them at a time whenthey will be interested, leading to consumers being inundated withirrelevant communications. These frustrations are not only related butare literally caused by the opposing party. Trying to solve the needs ofone without simultaneously addressing the needs of the other is anexercise in futility.

There is a need for consumers to manage and consolidate shoppingresources. In addition, a need exists to provide retailers with accessto consumers in an informed and focused way. There is a need as well forsystems and methods that would accomplish both improved consumerresource management and improved access to those consumers forretailers.

SUMMARY

In view of the above, methods are provided for consumer resourcemanagement. In accordance to one example method, a consumer interface isprovided on a network terminal available to a consumer. The consumerprovides consumer input at the network terminal and the consumer inputis communicated to an enterprise infrastructure. A consumer account isconfigured based on the consumer input at the enterprise infrastructure.The consumer account includes a partner interface to access a pluralityof selected goods and services providers. The consumer account is alsoconfigured to set fund balances for at least one selected goods andservices provider. The consumer then purchases a gift card from theenterprise infrastructure to enable purchases from at least one selectedgoods and services provider.

In another aspect of the invention, another example of a method forproviding consumer resource management includes generating a universaltransaction identifier from the enterprise infrastructure, the universaltransaction identifier corresponding to the consumer account to enablepurchases from a plurality of the selected goods and services providers.

In another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for targetedmarketing by a goods and services provider. According to the examplemethod, transaction data is collected from point-of-sale (POS) terminalsprocessing transactions. The transaction data includes a consumeridentifier for each consumer involved in the transactions. Thetransaction data is sent to an enterprise infrastructure. For eachtransaction, a consumer account is accessed in the enterpriseinfrastructure for each consumer based on the consumer identifiers. Thetransaction data is then recorded in the corresponding consumeraccounts. The goods and services provider is provided with theinformation relating to consumers that purchased goods and services fromthe goods and services provider. The goods and services provider maythen use the information to target consumers to receive offers, coupons,and savings.

Various advantages, aspects and novel features of the present invention,as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof, will be morefully understood from the following description and drawings.

Other systems, methods and features of the invention will be or willbecome apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of thefollowing figures and detailed description. It is intended that all suchadditional systems, methods, features and advantages be included withinthis description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protectedby the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention can be better understood with reference to the followingfigures. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale,emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of theinvention. In the figures, like reference numerals designatecorresponding parts throughout the different views.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example system for providingconsumer resource management and targeted marketing.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example system network that may be usedto implement an example of the system in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram depicting an example of a retail partnerinfrastructure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram depicting another example of a retailpartner infrastructure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram depicting another example of a retailpartner infrastructure.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting operation of an example of aPoint-of-Sale (POS) terminal interface.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram depicting operation of another example of a POSterminal interface.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram depicting operation of another example of a POSterminal interface.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example of an enterprise infrastructureinterface with retail partners.

FIG. 10 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented foruse by a consumer and which provides targeted offers to particularconsumers.

FIG. 11A is an example of a flow diagram illustrating the delivery ofspecial offers and savings to target consumer for access and use by theconsumer.

FIG. 11B is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a consumer receiptand processing of special offers and saving.

FIG. 12 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented foruse by a consumer for the purchase of gift cards.

FIG. 13A is an example of flow diagram illustrating the receipt,purchase and/or registration of a gift card by a consumer.

FIG. 13B is an example of a flow diagram illustrating an example of aninterest bearing gift card implementation.

FIG. 14 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented todisplay a gift card exchange system and gift card balance checkinterface.

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of the operation ofone implementation of a gift card exchange program.

FIG. 16 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented todisplay various loyalty programs in which a consumer is participatingand itemized details of a select loyalty program.

FIG. 17 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating consumer enrollmentin a loyalty program and the update of information related to theloyalty program.

FIG. 18 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented todisplay a targeted offer sent to the user in response to the usercompleting a travel calendar.

FIG. 19 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating the delivery ofspecial offers and savings to target consumer in response to thecompletion of an event or travel calendar.

FIG. 20 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented foruse by a consumer and which provides a consumer with the ability to havetargeted offers send to the consumer's personal system account via ashort message service text message.

FIG. 21 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating the delivery ofspecial offers and savings to consumer upon the receipt of a shortmessage service text message.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of preferred embodiments, reference is madeto the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and which show, byway of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may bepracticed. Other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes maybe made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

I. Targeted Marketing and Consumer Resource Management

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example system 100 for providingconsumer resource management and targeted marketing. The system 100includes an enterprise infrastructure 102 operable to communicate overthe Internet 104 and over secure network connections 106, which mayinclude connections over the Internet 104 or over any suitable wide-areanetwork (WAN) (e.g. telecommunications networks). The enterpriseinfrastructure 102 may be operated by an enterprise offering targetedmarketing to goods and services providers 108, 110, and consumerresource management services to consumers at network terminal 116, 118.The secured network connections 106 allow providers 108, 110 to securelyconnect to the enterprise infrastructure 102. The secured networkconnections 106 are secure in that the connections are private (forexample, point-to-point, or virtual private network connections),restricted access connections. The providers 108, 110, retailers inparticular, may use Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals 112, 114, which mayconnect to the enterprise infrastructure 102 over the secured networkconnections 106. The Internet 104 provides access to the enterpriseinfrastructure 102 to consumers using network terminals 116, 118. Thenetwork terminals 116, 118 may include personal computers, laptops,handheld devices, mobile phones, or any other computing device capableof running World-Wide Web client applications (e.g. web browsers).

The example system 100 shown in FIG. 1 depicts POS terminals 112, 114 asthe retailers' source of interaction with the enterprise infrastructure102. Other types of terminals may be used instead, such as networkterminals (similar to network terminals 116, 118), which may includePCs, laptops, handheld devices, mobile phones, or other devices. Networkterminals may, for example, be made available in Kiosks to provideretailers access to the enterprise infrastructure 102.

The providers 108, 110 in the system 100 in FIG. 1 may includeretailers, service providers, and manufacturers that may or may not havea commercial presence on the Internet 104. The retailers, serviceproviders and manufacturers that have a commercial presence on theInternet 104 may provide product distribution channels to allowconsumers to purchase goods on-line and consumer services that ease andenhance the consumer's on-line shopping experience. The productdistribution channels may include a web-site that allows credit cardtransactions, secured bank account access, and account information toindividual consumers that have accounts with the providers 108, 110. Theproviders 108, 110 may also include banks through which consumers mayaccess funds.

In the system 100 in FIG. 1, the providers 108, 110 may be in a businessrelationship (e.g. contractual) with the enterprise operating theenterprise infrastructure 102 that permits configuration of electroniccommercial access to the partners via the enterprise infrastructure 102.The providers 108, 110 may be retailers that collect data from the POSterminals 112, 114 relating to purchases made by consumers at theretailer's stores. The providers 108, 110 may be manufacturers that mayuse the enterprise infrastructure 102 as a product distribution channel,or as a source of information for targeted marketing. Providers 108, 110having a business relationship and using services with the enterpriseinfrastructure 102 are also referred to as “partners” in thisdescription.

The enterprise infrastructure 102 may work with consumers as members,subscribers, or customers having an account with the enterpriseinfrastructure 102. Consumers may access, configure and use toolsavailable on a consumer front-end interface to their accounts. Theconsumers may purchase gift cards or configure a universal transactionidentifier 120, 122 to represent those gift cards having a balance formaking purchases associated with it. The universal transactionidentifier 120, 122 may be similar to a gift card. However, while giftcards are made for purchases from specific retailers, service providersor manufacturers; the universal transaction identifier 120, 122 may beconfigured to permit a consumer to purchase goods from differentproviders 108, 110. The POS terminals 112, 114 may be equipped with auniversal transaction identifier 120, 122 reading device to associatethe universal transaction identifier 120, 122 with a consumer account inthe enterprise infrastructure 102. The consumer account may include datarelating to the partners 108, 110 from which goods may be purchased andbalances or limits on the gift card amounts that may be used forpurchasing goods from each partner 108, 110.

It is noted that the universal transaction identifier 120, 122 includesidentifying information that is keyed to the consumer's account in theenterprise infrastructure 102. The identifying information is recordedon the magnetic strip of the universal transaction identifier (card)120, 122 similar to a credit card. The identifying information mayhowever be stored on something other than a card such as, a radiofrequency identifying transmitter (RFID), a barcode, or any othersuitable form. The identifying information may also be a thumbprintimage that may be compared with a consumer's thumbprint image that maybe scanned at the POS terminal 112, 114 or any other biometricidentifier. In addition, access to the system may also be accomplishedusing an identification proxy such as a user's telephone number or someother means of unique identification.

For purposes of this application, a universal transaction identifier maybe also be referred to as universal transaction card, neither of whichrequire the use of a physical card to function as an identifier. Both auniversal transaction identifier and universal transaction card shallmean any mechanism for identifying a consumer and associating suchidentification with a consumer's account in the enterpriseinfrastructure 102. Further, when referencing the purchase or use of auniversal transaction identifier or universal transaction card, it isnot required that the purchase of any physical structure be made tofunction as a universal transaction identifier and universal transactioncard.

The consumers may interact with the enterprise infrastructure 102 usinga client application that connects to consumers' accounts with tools forassisting the consumer in managing consumer resources. The clientapplication provides the consumer front-end to the enterpriseinfrastructure 102. At the consumer front-end, the consumer may performfunctions such as: purchase gift cards, swap gift cards, track balances,subscribe to and manage loyalty programs, track offers and coupons frompartners, store and sort receipts, rebate redemption and tracking, andother functions as described in more detail below with reference toFIGS. 10-21.

The enterprise infrastructure 102 may include a system network forperforming a variety of services for both providers 108, 110 andconsumers. The system network includes applications that provide thetools available to consumers on the consumer front-end and databasestorage systems for storing information relating to consumers and theiraccounts and for storing information relating to providers. The systemnetwork also includes hardware and software for implementing securitymeasures to protect consumers' data as well as system data.

In an example system for targeted marketing and consumer resourcemanagement such as the system 100 in FIG. 1, the enterpriseinfrastructure 102 provides consumers with a web-site having tools,features, functions and applications that allow consumers to managetheir consumer resources and to purchase, or obtain, and swap gift cards120, 122. As described in more detail below with reference to FIGS.10-21, the tools include a personal profile section, a features section,and a personal resource management section. The personal profile sectionallows a consumer to store information that would assist the consumer inmaking shopping and purchasing decisions, and that will assist inproviding the consumer with targeted offers and savings and incontrolling the volume and frequency of communication from Retailers.Among other features, the features section provides a consumer withtools for purchasing gift cards and swapping the cards for purchases atother stores. The features section also provides lists of offers andsavings targeted for the consumer according to various targetingmechanisms (e.g. demographics, zip code, psychographics, loyalty, etc.),which may be provided to the user. The features section also allowsconsumers to engage in a transaction to swap or trade gift cards withother consumers. The personal management section provides tools thatallow the consumer to manage gift cards, special offers, loyaltyprograms, retailer credit card accounts, receipts and rebates.

The system 100 provides providers 108, 110 with focused access toconsumers. Providers 108, 110, as partners with the enterprise, maytarget advertisement, offers, coupons and other information about theirproducts and services to consumers who generate data used by thepartners through their access via the consumer front-end. Providers 108,110 thus obtain a more focused audience for their advertisement andinformation relating to the success or failure of their advertisingcampaigns. Providers 108, 110 also obtain more precise informationregarding the ownership and use of their gift cards, including via theconsumers' use of a universal transaction identifier. Provides 108, 110may also target markets, and track consumer spending across multiplechannels such as marketing (online, offline, direct marketing, etc.) andsales (B&M retailers, online retailers), both online and offline.

II Enterprise Infrastructure

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example system network 200 that may beused to implement an example of the system in FIG. 1. Those of ordinaryskill in the art will appreciate that the system network 200 in FIG. 2is described to illustrate one example of a network that may be used toimplement the system described above with reference to FIG. 1. Manyother network architectures not described here may be used as well. Thesystem network 200 includes a web server farm 202, a database serverfarm 204, an electronic data interchange (EDI) farm 206, and an internalaccess server farm 208. The system network 200 includes a layer 7 switchfarm 210 and an Internet firewall infrastructure 212 to implement aconsumer front-end over the Internet 214. The consumer front-end may beimplemented as a site on the World Wide Web. The system network 200 alsoincludes an EDI virtual local area network (VLAN) 216 withpoint-to-point connections 218 to EDI partners 220 a, 220 b, 220 c.

In general, the system network 200 in FIG. 2 includes remote and localinfrastructure. Connectivity to the system network 200 may be providedby co-location facilities hosting the remote infrastructure. Remoteinfrastructure includes servers, routers, databases and other networkentities that are geographically distributed as needed to provide accessto partners and to consumers. The remote infrastructure includes devicesthat may fall under a functional class and may be distributed in thesystem network 200 as a farm (e.g. web server farm, EDI server farm,etc.). Local infrastructure may include servers, routers, databases andother network entities that provide limited, primarily internal accesswithin the system for targeted marketing and consumer resourcemanagement. Local infrastructure may also be geographically distributedwith access limited by network design (e.g. completely internallyaccessed databases may be maintained within an Intranet).

The system network 200 in FIG. 2 implements a logical separation ofserver systems based upon type and manner of access. This introducesmultiple layers of access, and in turn, provides a deeper layer ofsecurity, even within the system network 200. The system network 200includes a general vertical depth of separation of service and levels ofsecurity allowing for several layers of access. The layers of accessrange from the consumer front-end (via the Internet 214), which is atthe forefront and has the lightest layer of security, to a system database 205, which is at the deepest layer of access and security.

The layers of access are implemented as virtual local area networks(VLANs) having no real access to one another except through routing doneby routing modules on the network switches. Each VLAN may be configuredappropriately to limit access according to the appropriate level ofsecurity. The levels of security correspond in general to four tiers ofnetwork entities: the presentation tier, the business logic tier, thedata access tier, and the data tier.

At the top level of access (for the consumer front-end), thepresentation tier is responsible for delivery of data to end clientsoutside of the enterprise infrastructure. The end clients may beconsumers or partners 220 a, 220 b, 220 c. In the presentation tier,data is formatted for communication with the business logic tier ofapplications that processes requests and handles data delivery to theclient applications. Data in the presentation tier may be in XML formatalong with XSLT stylesheets to allow rendering by client applications.The presentation tier operations, generally, in a layer of servers fromthe web server farm 202 that resides in a DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone)network. These servers in the DMZ network may be accessed using a webfarm DMZ VLAN 230 and the Layer 7 switch farm 210. The DMZ networkservers operate as proxy servers between consumers and the enterpriseinfrastructure.

The next layer of access includes servers in the web server farm 202that form the business logic tier. The business logic tier includesapplication code (Beans) that will handle requests from clientapplications (such as web browsers) and make requests to the Data AccessTier for relevant data. It will then process the data and deliver it forpresentation to the client applications. The business logic tier is keptseparate from interaction with consumers to preserve integrity of theapplications and access to the database 205. Added security may beprovided by an outer web farm VLAN 232.

In the next layer, the data access tier may make requests directly tothe Data Tier (or the database 205). The data access tier may beseparate from the business logic tier of applications to differentiatehow the data is stored and how it is retrieved from certain platforms.Security may be configured with an inner web farm VLAN 234.

The data tier is in the last layer of security, which includes thedatabase 205, and which has the tightest security to protect the mostcritical data. Security may be configured with an internal access VLAN236.

The system network 200 includes a general horizontal separation of EDIpartnerships, which are logical VLANs that separate access by eachpartner 220 a, 220 b, 220 c to the infrastructure of the example systemfor targeted marketing and consumer resource management implementedusing the system network 200. In general, a partner may access their ownprivate VLAN at 216 and 218 into the system network 200 infrastructurethrough a VPN concentrator or routed through a routing module on thebackbone switch. This structure may isolate potential security breachesfrom single partners 220 a, 220 b, 220 c. It may also prevent anypartner 220 a, 220 b, 220 c from being able to access rival partner datafrom the system network 200.

The EDI partner access to the system network 200 may also be layeredvertically according to level of security. An EDI farm DMZ VLAN 240provides the lowest level of security at the consumer front-end foraccess to the EDI server farm 206. The outer EDI farm VLAN 242 providesa higher level of security at a business logic level similar to thebusiness logic tier described above with reference to the web serverfarm 202. The highest level of security is provided at the inner EDIfarm VLAN 244 for access to more critical data via the database serverfarm 204.

Connectivity to the system network 200 may be provided by co-locationfacilities hosting the remote infrastructure. Connectivity may beprovided by Tier 1 Internet Backbone providers to ensure access to mostnetworks without having to transcend networks in order to provide theshortest network path from Leverage Consumer to Leverage Infrastructure.Besides utilizing connectivity to Tier 1 providers and managing complexBGP routes to the Internet Backbone, a backup connection to InterNAPwill also be established.

In the example system for targeted marketing and consumer resourcemanagement, the complex backbone connections force the infrastructure toappear “local” to the consumers accessing the system network 200 viatheir host ISPs. This prevents the consumer from transcending networksbetween peer networks and eventually experience degraded networkperformance.

A. Web Server Farm

The web server farm 202 includes two banks of servers for serving eitherstatic or dynamic content. Each bank may be designated as either thestatic web farm or the dynamic web farm. The static web farm may serviceclient requests for static content that is neither database generatednor does it use any type of server content processing and generationbefore being transmitted through the Internet to the client applications(e.g. web browser). Such examples of content would be images, video, orweb templates. The dynamic web farm may be designed to serve dynamiccontent generated in multiple ways, whether that is done via XML/XLStransformation, server-side scripting, or through middle-tierapplications that directly interfaces with the database 205.

The web server farm 202 may be implemented using any suitable hardwareand software systems implementing server functions. In one exampleimplementation, the web server farm 202 is implemented with Sunmultiprocessor blade servers running either the Solaris™ operatingsystem or Red Hat Linux Enterprise™ operating system. The exampleimplementation of the web server farm 202 also includes the Zeus™ WebServer (ZWS) application. Like the Apache™ Web Server application, theZWS is a robust, commercial-grade, full-featured and highly efficientweb server software. However, ZWS is multi-threaded to leverage thesymmetric multiprocessing nature of multi-cored hardware platforms,which increases the response times and load servicing for clientrequests. The web server farm 202 will also house the Java™ applicationserver software that operates the applications to service consumerrequests on the enterprise website. The Java™ Application Serversoftware may be a combination of Apache Tomcat for simple javaapplications and JBoss Application Server software for J2EEapplications.

It is to be understood that specific implementations of the web serverfarm 202 may use any suitable hardware and software systems. Thehardware and software systems described above are merely examples of thetypes of hardware and software systems that may be used.

B. Database Server Farm

The database server farm 204 may store data specific to consumerfront-end interactions and the EDI partner data collected from partners220 a, 220 b, 220 c. The database server farm 204 may be implementedusing any suitable hardware and software systems configured to operateas database servers. In one example implementation, the database serverfarm 204 is implemented using Sun multiprocessor Enterprise serversbanked with multi-core processors and full redundant power and mirroreddrives for the operating system and database application. Depending uponthe nature of the application and the database 205 that is needed tointerface against such applications, the database server farm 204 mayrun either the Oracle Database Server product or the MySQL Databaseserver product. Also, depending upon the nature of the data that isbeing stored, highly complex relational database tables may use Oraclewhile simplistic database schemas may use MySQL. The database serverapplications may be clustered to ensure high availability and faulttolerance. This will also provide application load balancing among thedatabase server farm 204.

The database 205 for the database server farm 204 may reside in a SAN(Storage Area Network) solution that will offer both high availabilityand fault tolerance.

It is to be understood that specific implementations of the databaseserver farm 204 may use any suitable hardware and software systems. Thehardware and software systems described above are merely examples of thetypes of hardware and software systems that may be used.

C. EDI Farm

The EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) farm 206 may be designated in thesystem network 200 to communicate with partners 220 a, 220 b, 220 c. TheEDI farm servers 206 may have different applications and permissionsfrom the web server farm 202 to access and process, as well as store,data within the database farm 204. The nature of the applicationsoperating on the EDI farm servers 206 may have more direct access to thedatabase 205 to increase efficiency in data processing and storage. TheEDI farm servers 206 may reside in a private VLANs (Virtual Local AreaNetworks) that can only be accessed via VPN (Virtual Private Network)Concentrators or through specific Point-to-Point access into the VLAN asshown at 216 and 218.

The EDI farm servers 206 may be implemented using any suitable hardwareand software system configured to operate server functions. In anexample implementation, the EDI server farm 206 is implemented using thesame platform as that of the web server farm 202 or by running IBMMainframes. The EDI farm servers 206 software in the exampleimplementation may also be similar to that of the web server farm 202software. If the EDI farm servers 206 include IBM Mainframes, then thehardware will run IBM AIX operating systems, and the EDI farm servers206 will run IBM Websphere Application Server software.

It is to be understood that specific implementations of the EDI serverfarm 206 may use any suitable hardware and software systems. Thehardware and software systems described above are merely examples of thetypes of hardware and software systems that may be used.

D. Internal Access

The internal access farm servers 208 may also resemble the web serverfarm 202 in platform, software, and resource architecture. However, likethe EDI farm servers 206, the applications will be tailored for internalaccess from an enterprise Intranet. Such applications may include datamining and statistical information for marketing and sales.

III. Partner Interfaces to the Enterprise Infrastructure

A. Retail Partner Infrastructure

The retail partner infrastructure provides partners with connectivity tothe enterprise infrastructure 100 (in FIG. 1). The implementation of theretail partner infrastructure for any given retail partner may depend onthe computer network system connecting the retail partner'spoint-of-sale terminals in the partner's stores. Some partners mayoperate with large, functionally rich computer networks, and others mayhave smaller, more basic computer systems. FIGS. 3-5 depict threegeneral configurations of retail partner infrastructures.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram depicting one example of a retail partnerinfrastructure 300. The retail partner infrastructure 300 includes anin-store infrastructure 302, a first WAN interface 304, a retail networkoperations center (NOC) 306, a second WAN interface 308, and anenterprise infrastructure 310. The in-store infrastructure 302 includesa POS host controller 312 connected to the first WAN interface 304 andto POS terminals 314 a-d. At each retail partner location 320,transactions processed at each POS terminal 314 a-d may be communicatedto the host controller 312. In FIG. 3, each retail partner location 320is networked to a central or semi-central infrastructure thatconsolidates data and manages both internetworking and intranetworkingtraffic but also EDI partner traffic. The central infrastructure in theretail partner infrastructure 300 is the NOC 306. The host controller312 may collect the data associated with each transaction from each POSterminal 314 a-d and communicate the data to the NOC 306.

Consumers may purchase goods at the retail partner location 320 usinggift cards via swiping their universal transaction identifier 120 (inFIG. 1) at one of the POS terminals 314 a-d. The POS terminal 314 a-dmay be equipped with a card reader, such as a credit card reader, forsensing the information on the universal transaction identifier. In atransaction, the consumer may offer the universal transaction identifierto the salesperson at the retail partner location 320. The universaltransaction identifier may be read by the card reader at the POSterminal 314 a-d to determine the appropriate customer account. Theidentifier is communicated, along with the purchase price of the articlebeing purchased and any other relevant data (e.g. an identifier for thearticle being purchased), to the host controller 312, which communicatesthe universal transaction identifier and purchase price to theenterprise infrastructure 310.

At the enterprise infrastructure 310, an appropriate application for theretail partner processes the transaction by looking up an accountassociated with the universal transaction identifier. The account ischecked to determine if the balance associated with any gift cardsrelating to the retail partner is sufficient to cover the transaction.If the balance is sufficient, and the consumer chooses to use thebalance, the transaction is processed and recorded. The balanceassociated with the retail partner gift card represented by theuniversal transaction identifier is reduced accordingly. Other functionsmay be performed during the transaction before it is finalized at thePOS terminal 314 a-d, including transmitting data regarding offers andsavings relating to the transaction and the use or accrual of rewardsassociated with a loyalty program.

The retail partner infrastructure 300 leverages the existing networkinfrastructure setup between each retail location 320 to the corporateoffice's NOC 306. Data may be channeled through the NOC 306 to establisha network path providing a central point of contact into the enterpriseinfrastructure 308. In the retail partner infrastructure 300 in FIG. 3,the partnership may be managed at a single point to ease integration andmanagement.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram depicting another example of a retailpartner infrastructure 400. In the retail partner infrastructure 400,each retail location 402 operates independently using an in-storenetwork 404 having a POS host controller 410 connected to a plurality ofPOS terminals 412 a-d and a WAN network 406, which provides connectivityto an enterprise infrastructure 408. Data consolidation and accountingmay be performed in the same host controller 410.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram depicting another example of a retailpartner infrastructure 500. The retail partner infrastructure 500 inFIG. 5 includes an in-store network 504 in each store 502. The in-storenetwork 504 includes a plurality of POS terminals 504 connected to a WANnetwork 506, which provides connectivity to an enterprise infrastructure508. The retail partner infrastructure 500 may establish an EDIrelationship either at each POS Terminal 512 a-d or through an in-storePOS Host Controller (not shown). This may include building interfacesinto either the POS Terminal 512 or POS Host Controller or both.Connectivity may be established either by a point-to-point line or viathe Internet using a VPN gateway setup either to Host Controllers or toRetail Partner NOC (Network Operation Center) infrastructure.

IV. Pos Terminal Interfaces

As described above with reference to FIG. 3, a consumer using auniversal transaction identifier may make purchases that may beprocessed at the POS terminals 314 a-d. FIGS. 6-8 depict operation ofexamples of POS terminal interfaces to the enterprise infrastructureillustrating how data on consumer purchasing behavior may be collectedand made available to partners. POS terminal interfaces that may beimplemented include, but are not limited to: Scanner Interface; MagneticStripe Reader (MSR) Interface; PIN Pad Interface; and POS ApplicationInterface.

Of the 4 most common enterprise infrastructure interfaces, three areinterfaces to a hardware device. The remaining enterprise infrastructureapplication interfaces against the enterprise infrastructure at theapplication or higher level.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting operation of an example of a POSterminal 602 that includes a barcode scanner 604 for UPC or SKU barcodeson goods being purchased for communication to an enterpriseinfrastructure 606. The POS terminal 602 includes a computer terminalhaving a typical human interface for processing commercial transactions.While the barcode scanner 604 is shown as a separate component in FIG.6, the barcode scanner 604 or other universal transaction identifierreader may be viewed as an integral part of the POS terminals shown inFIGS. 1-5.

Referring to FIG. 6, a salesperson in a retail partner location (store)may initiate a transaction at the POS terminal 602. The POS terminal 602may, in response, send a message indicating a start of the transactionto the barcode scanner 604 at 608. The barcode scanner 604 receives themessage and performs initialization steps and indicates a readiness toscan a barcode by sending a receipt message to the POS terminal 602 at608. The POS terminal 602 also sends a message indicating start of atransaction to the enterprise infrastructure 606 at 610. The message at610 may be sent over a retail partner infrastructure such as the exampleretail partner infrastructures described above with reference to FIGS.3-5. The enterprise infrastructure 606 may respond with start oftransaction receipt at message 610. At 612, the sales person may, usingthe barcode scanner 604, scan the UPC or SKU causing the UPC or SKU datato be communicated back to the POS terminal 602 at 614. The POS terminal602 may send the UPC or SKU data to the enterprise infrastructure 606 at616 and wait for a scanned item UPC receipt. When the receipt isreceived, the POS terminal 606 may send a message at 618 to the barcodescanner 604 indicating the end of the transaction and wait for areceipt. The barcode scanner 602 may then send a message indicating theend of the transaction to the enterprise infrastructure 606 and wait fora receipt at 620.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram depicting operation of another example of afirst POS terminal. The example in FIG. 7 uses a barcode scanner 704 aswell. A salesperson in a retail partner location (store) may initiate atransaction at the POS terminal 702. The POS terminal 702 may, inresponse, send a message indicating a start of the transaction to thebarcode scanner 704 at 708. The barcode scanner 704 receives the messageand performs initialization steps and indicates a readiness to scan abarcode by sending a receipt message to the POS terminal 702 at 708. ThePOS terminal 702 also sends a message indicating start of a transactionto the enterprise infrastructure 706 at 710. The message at 710 may besent over a retail partner infrastructure such as the example retailpartner infrastructures described above with reference to FIGS. 3-5. Theenterprise infrastructure 706 may respond with start of transactionreceipt at message 710. At 712, the sales person may, using the barcodescanner 704, scan the UPC or SKU causing the UPC or SKU data to becommunicated to the enterprise infrastructure 706 at 714. Afterreceiving a transaction receipt, the POS terminal 702 may send a messageat 716 to the barcode scanner 704 indicating the end of the transactionand wait for a receipt. The barcode scanner 702 may then send a messageindicating the end of the transaction to the enterprise infrastructure706 and wait for a receipt at 718. The barcode scanner 704 may then senda message indicating end of the transaction to the POS terminal 702 at720.

The flow diagrams 600 and 700 in FIGS. 6 & 7 illustrate how theenterprise infrastructure 606, 706 may collect information aboutproducts purchased by consumers. The interface that implements the flowdiagrams 600, 700 may interact with the barcode scanner devices 604, 704at retail stores. These scanners may be, generally, hand-held scannersor bed scanners. Examples of such scanners include combination scannersand scales at grocery stores or hand scanners at department stores.

The enterprise infrastructures 606, 706 may distribute an applicationthat runs on each POS terminal 602, 702 and “attach” to the scannerdevices 604, 704. The enterprise infrastructure 606, 706 may then“listen” on each item scan and collect the UPC bar code or SKUinformation for each item. By capturing this information, the enterpriseinfrastructure 606, 706 may record each item purchased by the consumers.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram depicting operation of another example of a POSterminal 802 that incorporates a magnetic strip reader with integratedPIN pad 804. The Magnetic Stripe Reader (MSR) 804 may interact with theMSR devices generally found either attached to pin pad devices for ATMauthentication or built into the POS terminal 802. The enterpriseinfrastructure 806 may distribute an application to run on each POSterminal 802 or pin pad device that will “attach” to the MSR device 804.The enterprise infrastructure 806 may collect data from each swipe of amagnetic card, such as the universal transaction identifier in order toauthenticate membership of a purchasing consumer. This will also enableidentification of the consumer subscriber to the enterpriseinfrastructure 806 for the particular in-store purchase transaction.

The PIN pad interface of the magnetic strip reader 804 in FIG. 8interacts with the PIN pad devices that are used to authenticateelectronic payment transactions (EPT) at the POS terminal 802.Typically, the PIN pad devices include a display with keys and may ormay not be integrated with the magnetic strip reader 804. The enterpriseinfrastructure 806 may distribute an application to run on either thePOS terminal 802 or the pin pad device on the magnetic stripe reader804. A consumer member, or customer, of the enterprise infrastructure806 may be assigned a PIN that may be used with the universaltransaction identifier. The application allows the enterpriseinfrastructure 806 to authenticate the consumer against its database andauthorize the consumer the exclusive use of the universal transactionidentifier and benefits stored within.

Referring to FIG. 8, a salesperson may begin a transaction at the POSterminal 802, which signals a start of transaction message to themagnetic strip reader 804 at 810. The magnetic strip reader 804initializes and sends back a confirmation message at 810, then waits forthe magnetic strip input. At 812, the universal transaction identifier(card) is passed through the magnetic stripe reader 804. The magneticstrip reader 804 display requests input of a PIN at the PIN pad. At 814,the consumer enters her assigned PIN. At 816, the magnetic stripe reader804 sends the PIN and other identifying information to the enterpriseinfrastructure 806 for verification of membership and waits for aconfirmation. When the confirmation of membership is received by themagnetic stripe reader 804, the magnetic stripe reader 804 may requesttransaction data from the POS terminal 802 (which may include the UPCdata retrieved with the barcode scanner as described above withreference to FIGS. 6 and 7). At 818, the transaction data is requestedand received at the magnetic stripe reader 804. At 820, the magneticstripe reader 804 sends the transaction data to the enterpriseinfrastructure 806. The magnetic stripe reader 804 may receive a messagesignaling the end of the transaction from the POS terminal 802 at 822.The magnetic stripe reader 804 transmits the end of transaction messageto the enterprise infrastructure 806 at 824 and waits for an end oftransaction receipt message. At 826, the magnetic stripe reader 806communicates the end of transaction receipt message to the POS terminal802 to complete the transaction.

FIGS. 6-8 describe operation of interfaces that provide the enterpriseinfrastructure with access to transaction data when consumers use theuniversal transaction identifier. The transaction data collected duringtransactions includes: product information determined using the UPC orSKU at the barcode scanner; personal information determined using theidentifier information accessed via the universal transactionidentifier. The enterprise infrastructure may store the transaction dataas part of the consumer's account information. The enterpriseinfrastructure may also offer retail partners research and informationderived from the product information and from the personal informationabout the consumer. The retail partners may use the information totarget advertisements, offers, savings, coupons, etc. to consumers thatactually purchase their products, or are more likely to purchase theirproducts.

Transaction data may also be collected and communicated by a POSapplication that may run on POS terminals or within the POS hostcontroller 312 (in FIG. 3). The enterprise infrastructure may distributethe POS application, which may establish a custom EDI connector betweenthe retail POS application and the enterprise infrastructure in order tocapture a transaction log of any particular transaction. The POSapplication may also track or collect other POS specific data that isrelevant to the retail POS application.

V. Retail Partner Application Architecture

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example of an enterprise infrastructureand retail partner's interface 900 depicting interaction between theretail partners and the enterprise infrastructure. The enterpriseinfrastructure and retail partners' interface 900 includes a remoteenterprise infrastructure 902, a retail PUS terminal environment 904,and a retail partner centralized infrastructure 906.

The retail POS terminal environment 904 includes components that mayoperate in POS terminals: a PUS application 908, a magnetic stripereader (MSR) 910, a scanner 912, and a PIN pad device 914. The retailPOS environment 902 may implement interfaces to the enterpriseinfrastructure 902 described above with reference to FIGS. 6-8. The POSapplication 908 may reside within each retail partner POS terminal 904and interface with the MSR 910, scanner 912, and PIN pad devices 914.Upon each transaction, the transaction data collected by the POSapplication 908 may be transmitted in real-time to the enterpriseinfrastructure 902.

The data collected may be in multiple formats, depending upon the natureof the devices interfaced. The enterprise infrastructure 902 may supportbinary formats as well as default ASCII formats inherent to the devices.In one example, the data collected may be translated into XML for easeof transport and parsing.

The enterprise infrastructure 902 includes partner EDI servers 930,internal application servers 940, web servers 950, and a data store 980.The partner EDI servers 930 are the servers in the EDI server farm 206described above with reference to FIG. 2. The internal applicationservers 940 are the servers in the internal app server farm 208described above with reference to FIG. 2. The web servers 950 are theservers in the web server farm 202 described above with reference toFIG. 2. The data store 980 is the database 205 in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 9, the enterprise infrastructure 902 communicates withthe retail POS terminal environment 904 and with the retail partnercentralized infrastructure 906. The retail partner centralizedinfrastructure 906 includes a retail partner application server 920 anda retail partner data store 922. The retail partner centralizedinfrastructure 906 may include the host controller 312 (in FIG. 3)connected via the retail NOC 306. The retail partner centralizedinfrastructure 906 may also be the host controller 412 or 512 (in FIGS.4 and 5 respectively) in each retail store. The retail partnercentralized infrastructure 906 may be an established EDI connector thatinterfaces between the retail partner application server 920 and the EDIservers 930.

The data collected may be in multiple formats, depending upon the natureof the devices interfaced. The enterprise infrastructure 902 may supportbinary formats as well as default ASCII formats inherent to the devices.In one example, the data collected may be translated into XML for easeof transport and parsing; specifically the NRF IXRetail POSLog format.

VI. Consumer Front-End

FIGS. 10-20 illustrate various examples of user interfaces that may beimplemented for the system 100 to interact with the consumer andexamples of the operation of the system 100 as it may interface with theconsumer. While the system 100 may be implemented in various forms forinteraction with the consumer, the examples illustrated in FIGS. 10-20show an on-line web-based program designed to interact with theconsumer, distribute targeted marketing campaigns and manage consumerresources. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the system maybe a software system that may be designed as one or more softwaremodules. When the system is comprised of multiple modules, the modulesmay reside locally or may be remotely located from one another and incommunication over a network, such as the Internet.

FIG. 10 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented foruse by a consumer and that provides targeted offers to particularconsumers. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the consumer interface 1000 mayinclude three main sections: (i) a personal profile section 1002; (ii) afeatures section 1004; and (iii) a personal management section 1006.

When a consumer desires to join as a system member, the consumer will beprompted to enter basic personal information into the system, which canlater be displayed and modified by accessing the personal profilesection 1002 of the consumer's personal account. In particular, theconsumer will be asked to provide basic profile information, including,but not limited to, demographic information, such as age, gender, zipcode preference information regarding consumer likes and dislikes andinformation about friends and family for whom the consumer may purchasegifts or items. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the personal profile section1002, may be segregated into subsections of information, which mayinclude, for example, a message center, a profile section, a friends andfamily section, a dates to remember section, and an event and travelcalendar section (not shown). Those skilled in the art will recognizethat other types of information may be gathered from a consumer toassist with targeted marketing and management of consumer purchases,including but not limited to, consumer financial information andpurchasing method information, such as credit card and shippinginformation. Such information may be presented in any numbers of waysand should not be limited to the information or presentation ofinformation as illustrated in FIG. 10.

In the illustrated example, the consumer, via the features section 1004of the consumer interface may view offers and savings, may purchase giftcards, may exchange gift cards, may exchange store credit, may initiateand track rebate redemptions, among other things. Further, in theillustrated example, the consumer, via the personal management section1006, may view his/her personal gift cards and special offers marked asbeing of particular interest. Additionally, through a consumer'spersonal management section 1006, the consumer may view his/herparticipating loyalty programs and rewards earned, his/her availablestore credits and digital receipts from recent purchase fromparticipating retailers.

As will be described further below in connections with FIGS. 10-20, thesystem 100 may be designed to interact with the consumer via an on-lineweb-based software program and may include a number of differentfunctions and features, which may include, but not be limited to, (a) anoffer and savings feature; (b) gift card purchase feature; (c) gift cardregistration feature; (d) a gift card exchange feature; (e) a loyaltyprograms enrollment and management feature; (f) an event and traveloffer and savings feature; (g) a short message services offer andsavings feature; (h) a digital receipts feature; and (i) an on-linerebate feature. Further, in the example provided in FIG. 10, suchfeatures may be accessible either via the features section 1004 or thepersonal management section 1006 of the consumer interface.

The gift cards may be combined and accessed via a single universaltransaction identifier (described above with reference to FIG. 1). Theuser may configure the universal transaction identifier to operate as agift card accepted by multiple retailers, service providers ormanufacturers.

A. Offers and Savings Feature

As illustrated in FIG. 10, a consumer may receive targeted marketingcampaigns in the form of offers and savings or other information as partof the consumer's participation as a system 100 member. In theillustrated example, such offers and savings appear as expandableline-items listed in the features section 1004 of the consumer interface1000 under the “View Offers & Savings” tab. Each offer may identify thevendor, provide a description of the offer, an expiration date andidentify the targeting method utilized to prompt the consumer to receiveeach offer. The system may be designed such that the content of theoffer may include one or more of the following types of content: text,video, pictures, service provider, retailer or manufacturer branding,web-links, voice, or other data types. Furthermore, the consumer may beprovided with the option of selecting offers of interest and savingthose offers into the consumer personal management section 1006 of theconsumer interface, which activates an offer to be available for use bythe consumer.

FIG. 11A is an example of a flow diagram illustrating the delivery ofspecial offers and savings to target consumer for access and use by theconsumer. As illustrated in FIG. 1, in order to receive special offersand savings for consumer system members, the system 100 managercontracts with service provides, retailers and/or manufacturers for thedevelopment of special offers to be distributed to target consumers, asillustrated in step 1102. Once the offer details are established and thecharacteristics of the campaign are identified, at step 1104, the systemwill, based upon the offer details and campaign characteristics,identify the consumer member to be targeted with the special offer, atstep 1106. Finally, at step 1108 the system manager will send thespecial offer to the targeted consumers, which will be accessible by theconsumers via their personal consumer system account. In this example,data will be sent with each special offer identifying why eachparticular consumer receiving an offer was targeted for the campaign.

Campaigns may be characterized by, for example, expiration dates,co-branding/short message service campaigns, offers searchable bynon-target consumers, offers transferable among consumer members,on-line vs. off-line redemption, to name a few. To identify whichconsumer should be targeted for a particular offer or part of acampaign, targeting methods may include demographic, geographic, profilepreferences/psychographics, recent purchases/uses, gift card/storecredit ownership, loyalty program memberships, event calendar, travelcalendar, word of mouth/previous campaign participation. Those skilledin the art will recognize that other targeting methods may be utilizedand the targeting methods are not limited to those recited above andother campaign characterization categories may be utilized, along withthe offer details, to help identify the target consumers.

FIG. 11B is an example of a flow diagram illustrating the consumerreceipt and processing of special offers and saving. To be eligible toreceive special offers and savings, a consumer must first become aregistered system user. To receive targeted offers, the consumer mustalso complete a user profile. To view a consumer's offers and savings, aconsumer would, after becoming a registered user, at step 1106, log ontothe consumer's account and select the “View Offers and Savings” optionin the features section 1004 of the example illustrated in FIG. 10. Uponselection of this tab, the consumer will be able to view the offers thatwere targeted specifically to him or her and also view the reasons forreceipt of a particular offer. As illustrated in FIG. 10, accompanyingeach offer is identifying information that allows the consumer todetermine why he or she received a particular offer.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 10, in connection with eachline-item offer, the consumer is provided with information thatidentifies why the consumer was selected to receive this offer. In thisexample, this identifying information is provided in the form of coloredboxes containing different indicia. Each box represents a differenttargeting method that was used identify the consumer as a targetrecipient for the particular campaign offer. Users may be provided witha key to assist in identifying the different targeting methods. Aspreviously discussed, these targeting methods, may include, but are notlimited to, demographic, geographic, profile preferences/psychographics,recent purchases/uses, gift card/store credit ownership, loyalty programmemberships, event calendar, travel calendar, word of mouth/previouscampaign participation. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the user interfacemay also allow users to roll over the boxes representing the differenttarget information. When the user rolls over the boxes, a text bubble orother signifier may appear that provides the customer with detailedinformation regarding why a particular target box appears. Optionally,relevant sections in a consumer's personal management section may behighlighted to the extent that it corresponds to reasons detailed in aparticular target box. For example, if the reason for receiving an offerwas based upon a consumer being a loyalty program member, the loyaltyprogram membership may be highlighted in the consumer's personalmanagement section when the he views the target reason as being aloyalty member (as illustrated in FIG. 10).

After viewing a particular offer's details or detail summary, at step1114 of FIG. 11B, a consumer may decide whether to delete or activate aparticular offer or just do nothing. Optionally, a customer may beprovided with the option to provide feedback to a particular vendorregarding the offer, seek an increased or decreased volume of offersfrom a particular vendor or request the receipt of no offers from aparticular vendor for a given time period.

A consumer may have the option of immediately deleting unwanted offersfrom their offer list. If, however, a consumer decides to do nothingwith a particular offer, in the illustrated example, the offer will bedeleted from the user's offer listing upon expiration of the offer,without notice to the consumer, step 1116.

At step 1118, if a consumer is interested in possibly using a particularoffer, the consumer may activate the offer by moving the offer to thepersonal management section 1006 of the consumer's account. Once moved,the offer will appear in the personal management section 1006 under atab of activated offers, which in the illustrated example is titled “MySpecial Offers.” In the illustrated example, at step 1120, once an offerexpires, it will be removed from the consumer's personal managementsection 1006; however, the consumer will be notified of its expirationand deletion since special interest was shown in the particular offer.

Optionally, the system 100 may also allow a consumer to modify how he orshe is targeted by a particular vendor, step 1122. In this regard, thevendor may be provided with a mechanism for sending feedback directly toa particular vendor. Furthermore, the consumer may seek more or lessoffers from a particular vendor, may seek offers of a particular type orcategory, or may seek to permanently or temporarily suspend the receiptof offers from a particular vendor.

Additionally, the system may be capable of gathering analytics andstatistical data about the campaign performance and may provide suchinformation to participating service providers, retailers andmanufacturers.

B. Gift Card Purchase Feature

FIG. 12 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented foruse by a consumer for the purchase of gift cards. In the exampleillustrated in FIG. 12, a consumer is provide with an option under thetab “Purchase Gift Card” in the features section 1004 of the consumerinterface 1000. Using this function, a consumer is able to select ordesignate a gift card recipient. The consumer is then able to select theretailer from which to purchase the gift card and designate the giftcard amount. The consumer may select multiple retailers and designatedifferent amounts for each retailer. Recipient and payment informationare provided to complete the purchase. In this example, a confirmationof the purchase is then provided to the provider.

Once the gift card purchase is complete, the consumer may receive eitherindividual retailer gift cards or one universal transaction cardconfigured for use as a gift card for the multiple retailers designated.The consumer may also have the universal transaction card sent to anyonedesignated by the consumer to receive the card as a gift.

C. Gift Card Registration Feature

Also, as illustrated in the example shown in FIG. 12, a consumer isprovided with an option under the tab “My Gift Cards” to register theconsumer's gift cards, or to purchase a gift card utilizing the processdescribed in FIG. 12 above. Once gift cards are registered in the systemas associated with a particular consumer account, as explained furtherbelow in connection with FIGS. 13A & 13B, the gift cards will appear inthe consumer system account. In this illustrated example, the gift cardsappear in the personal management section 1006 of the consumer interface1000 under the tab “My Gift Cards.”

FIG. 13A is an example of flow diagram illustrating the receipt,purchase and/or registration of a gift card by a consumer. As shown inFIG. 13A, the registration of a gift card with a consumer's account canbe initiated in several ways. For example, the process can start withthe consumer's desire to register a gift card 1302, in which theconsumer can log onto his/her account, step 1304, to commence theregistration process. Alternatively, if the consumer does not have anaccount, the consumer may first be required to establish a systemaccount, step 1308.

In the illustrated example, once the account is established, a consumermay enter gift card information into the consumer's personal managementsection 1006. In this regard, the consumer will select an add gift cardoption in the consumer account. The system will then prompt the consumerto enter gift card information, such as vender information and cardnumber, among other data, step 1314.

Additionally, someone may purchase a gift card for a consumer. If theconsumer does not have an account with the system, the consumer may benotified by email, text message, mail or other notification method ofthe receipt of the gift card. This may then prompt the consumer toestablish an account 1308, log on the system 1302, and use and orregister the gift card 1302. Likewise, existing consumer account holdersmay receive notice of a gift card upon logging into their account by thegift card appearing in the consumer personal account, with notice to theconsumer of the receipt of the gift, step 1312.

Whether a gift card is registered by gift or manually entered into thesystem 100 associated with a consumer account, in one example of animplementation, the system 100 may determine whether a particular giftcard is eligible to bear interest. FIG. 13B is an example of a flowdiagram illustrating an example of an interest bearing gift cardimplementation.

As illustrated in FIG. 13B, the system 100 will check if the vendor,i.e., service provider, retailer or manufacturer, will allow the system100 to verify the balance on a gift card, step 1316. If the systemcannot verify the balance on the gift card through the vendor, thesystem 100 will notify the user that the gift card is not an interestbearing card, step 1318. The consumer will then be prompted to enter thegift card amount, step 1320. The gift card will then appear in theconsumer's account, step 1322 and the consumer will be required toupdate the balance of the funds as they are depleted or replenished,step 1324.

If, however, the system can verify the balance on a gift card, thesystem 100 can allow the accrual of interest for that gift card and willnotify the consumer that the gift card is an interest bearing card solong as it carries a balance and the consumer remains an active systemaccount holder, step 1324. The system will also notify the consumer ofthe interest rate. The gift card will then appear in the consumer'saccount, step 1326 and the system will automatically update the balanceof the funds associated with the card upon each user login, step 1328.The balance information shall also include the accrued interest amount.Optionally, the system may allow the consumer different options on howto apply the interest. From these options, the consumer may then electhow to apply the interest, step 1330. For example, the interest may beadded to the gift card, may be cashed out in the form of a check orfunds transfer, may be moved to a system account for future purchases,or may be given to a designated charitable organization.

D. Gift Card Exchange Feature

FIG. 14 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented todisplay a gift card exchange system and gift card balance checkinterface. As illustrated in FIG. 14, the system may include an optionto allow a consumer to exchange or trade gift cards with other consumersystem users. In the illustrated example, this function is available toa consumer under the “Gift Card Exchange” tab of the feature section1004 of the customer interface 1000. FIG. 14 further illustrates, underthe “My Gift Card” tab of the personal management section 1006 of theconsumer interface 1000 the system's ability to display registeredconsumer gift cards and the account balances of each card. As explainedabove in connection with FIGS. 12 & 13, such information may be obtainedautomatically by the system from the vendor or may be manually inputinto the consumer's account.

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of the operation ofone implementation of a gift card exchange program. As illustrated, toinitiate a gift card exchange, a consumer first logs into their personalsystem account, step 1502. As shown in FIG. 14, this function may bemade available to consumers via the feature section 1006 of the consumerinterface 1000, accessible under a tab marked “Gift Card Exchange.” Inthis example, the consumer elects to trade registered gifts cards, asdescribed in connection with FIGS. 12 & 13 above, step 1504, byselecting the gift cards to swap and indicating the value of the card tobe swapped. When cards may be digitally swapped, via for example auniversal transaction card, or gift cards may be cancelled and replacedwith one or more new cards, partial gift card values may be exchanged.However, when the system 100 only provides for cards to be physicallyexchanged between consumer, gift cards must be swapped at full cardvalue. The system 100 can be designed to alert the consumer when suchlimitations exist and prevent the exchange of partial value gift cards.

Once the consumer indicates which gift card he/she desires to trade andthe value of the trade, the consumer must then indicate which gift cardhe/she desires to acquire in the trade and the value of the trade. Step1508. For example, the trade may be a dollar for dollar trade, or,optionally, a consumer may offer a higher or lesser value trade foranother gift card, i.e., $1.50 of the consumer card for a $1.00 on thetrade. When electing which gift cards the consumer desires to acquire,the system 100 may seek a first choice trade and one or more alternativetrade options.

Next, the system 100 will then determine if the trade can be immediatelycompleted and if so, with which trade choice, e.g., the first tradechoice or an alternative trade, step 1510. If no trade can beimmediately completed, the system 100 may then give the user the optionto cancel the trade or leave it pending until the desired trade can becompleted. If the trade can be immediately completed, the system 100will present the user with his trade options. The system will then givethe user the option to complete the transaction, cancel the transactionor keep the transaction pending until another trade option becomesavailable. For example, if the first trade option is not available, butan alternative trade option is offered. The system 100 may allow theconsumer to keep the trade pending until the first option becomesavailable for trade.

If the consumer indicates that he desires to complete a swap, step 1512,the system will then determine how best to complete the transaction andinstruct the consumer accordingly, step 1514. For example, the systemmay complete the transaction by either instructing consumers to commencea physical swap, by canceling existing gift cards and issuing new giftcards or by digitally swapping vendors and associated values. A physicalswap may occur through the system manager or may occur directly betweenthe trading consumers.

When a digital swap is available, the system 100 will transfer thevalues associated with the vendor gift cards between the tradingconsumer accounts. The new gift cards and values will post on therespective consumer accounts and will be accessible via a universaltransaction card or vendor gift card linked to the system 100 accessiblevia the consumer's account.

E Loyalty Programs Management Feature

FIG. 16 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented todisplay various loyalty programs in which a consumer is participatingand itemized details of a select loyalty program. In the illustratedexample, a consumer may join or register various vendor loyaltyprograms. Such membership in the loyalty programs may be displayed inthe consumer personal management section 1006 under the “My LoyaltyPrograms” tab. Upon selection, detailed information regarding a loyaltyprogram and rewards earned by participating in such program can bedisplayed in the features section 1004 of the consumer interface 1000.Participation rewards and information for a particular loyalty programmay be displayed by communication directly to the vendor's system toretrieve or link to the relevant data. Optionally, the system 100 mayretrieve and parse the information to provide the information to theconsumer in a modified format than the information format offered by thevendor.

FIG. 17 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating consumer enrollmentin a loyalty program and the update of information related to theloyalty program. While the system 100 may be designed to allow aconsumer to manually enter and manually or automatically track loyaltyinformation, as will be further described below, the system 100 may alsoallow a consumer to enroll in a loyalty program via the consumerinterface 1000 and automatically track the loyalty program rewards foreach loyalty program. Once a customer is logged onto his personal systemaccount 1702, the consumer may elect to join a loyalty program. Asillustrated in FIG. 16, an election may be made on the consumerinterface 1000 that permits the consumer to join select loyaltyprograms. In the illustrated example, this election is available underthe “My Loyalty Programs” tab in the personal management section 1006 ofthe consumer interface 1000. To add an additional program, the consumerwould select the “join new program” option on the screen, 1704.

Once the consumer elects to join a new program, the system would thendirect the user to the sign-up screen (not shown) where the consumer maysearch for available on-line loyalty programs by vendor name and orcategory, such as electronics, step 1706. The consumer would then electwhich program(s) to join and complete the necessary enrollmentinformation form to become a loyalty member, step 1708. Enrollment inthe new program would then reflect in the system account, for exampleunder the “My Loyalty Programs” tab in the personal management section1006 of the consumer interface 1000, step 1710. The system manager maythen send an associated loyalty card to the consumer, if required by thevendor, step 1712, or if the consumer has a universal transaction cardfor the system 100, that identified account will automatically begin totrack loyalty transactions. In either case, the consumer may be requiredto use the loyalty card or the universal transaction card to trackconsumer transactions at point of sale and receive loyalty rewardsand/or benefits, step 1714. Whenever a transaction is completed using aloyalty card or universal transaction card applicable to a loyaltyprogram, the system 100 can then update the individual consumer'saccount to reflect recent loyalty account activity, step 1716.

Optionally, the system 100 may receive manual input of loyaltyinformation and based upon the input of information, download associatedloyalty information or provide an automatic link, for example, through aweb browser, to the consumer's loyalty information on the vendors'website, as illustrated in FIG. 16.

F. Event and Travel Offer and Savings Feature

FIG. 18 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented todisplay a targeted offer sent to the user in response to the usercompleting a travel calendar. In the illustrated example, the offer fromEnterprise, displayed in the consumer's offer listing, indicates that iswas send to the consumer using a travel calendar targeting method, amongother methods. This is evident by the “T” in the box displayed at theend of the first line of the offer. When the user scrolls over thetarget box indicating the target method was the travel calendar, theconsumer reveals that the offer was sent to him/her in part becausehe/she had indicated that they were going on a trip to New York, Jan.8-14, 2007. Accordingly, in this example, this offer was sent inresponse to information that the consumer placed in his/her personalprofile section 1002 regarding an upcoming trip to New York. As will befurther described below, similar offers can be targeted to specificconsumer based upon event information identified in a consumer personalprofile, as well as travel or trip information.

FIG. 19 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating the delivery ofspecial offers and savings to target consumer in response to thecompletion of an event or travel calendar. For a consumer to enter eventor travel information, the consumer must first be logged into the system100, step 1902. Once logged on, the consumer is then able to access a“Calendar” section of the consumer account, which may be located in thepersonal profile section 1002 of the consumer interface 1000. Thissection may also be combined with or part of a “My Dates to Remember”section, as illustrated in the example in FIG. 18.

Under the calendar section the consumer will be provided with variousoptions, which may include, but not be limited to, entering event andtrip information. The consumer can then elect to enter either type ofinformation into the consumer's personal profile, step 1906. If theconsumer enters an event into his/her profile, for example, a wedding oran individual's birthday, step 1908, the system 100 will then prompt theconsumer to associate a gift recipient with the event, 1910. If therecipient's profile is already in the system 100, the system 100 willthen prompt the consumer to identify the recipient, step 1912. If theconsumer is not in the system 100, the system 100 will then prompt theconsumer to enter the recipient's profile information, step 1914.Optionally, the system 100 may also prompt the consumer to select areminder date for the event, 1918.

Using the event information, user profile and gift recipientinformation, the system 100 can then work with vendors to obtainappropriate offers for gift recipients prior to the event placed on thecalendar, step 1918. Such offers can then be transmitted to theconsumer, which will then appear as part of the consumer's offers andwill reference the offer receipt as associated with the particularevent.

Alternatively, in the case of a trip, the consumer may enter travelinformation into the consumer's user profiles, such as dates of travel,travel method, destinations, mode of transportation, point of interest,etc. Similar to the event calendar, the system can then use thisinformation to solicit offers from vendors that pertain to the tripdates, destinations and travel plans, step 1924. Such offers can then betransmitted to the consumer, which will then appear as part of theconsumer's offer listing and will reference the offer receipt asassociated with the particular trip, as illustrated in FIG. 18, whichshows a rental car offer applicable for the dates of travel.

G. Short Message Services Offer and Savings Feature

FIG. 20 is an example of a user interface that may be implemented foruse by a consumer and which provides a consumer with the ability to havetargeted offers sent to the consumer's personal system account via ashort message service text message. As illustrated in FIG. 20, two SMStype offers are listed as an item in the in the offers and savingssection of the feature section 1004 of the consumer interface 1000. Thisoffer type represents an offer that is sent to a consumer's account inresponse to a short message service (“SMS”) message sent by the consumerrequesting that the offer be sent to his or her personal system account.

FIG. 21 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating the delivery ofspecial offers and savings to consumers upon the receipt of a shortmessage service text message. As illustrated in FIG. 21, to receiveoffers via a text message or SMS message request, both the consumer andthe retailer (i.e., service provider, retailer and/or manufacturer) mustallow for such a transaction to occur. At step 2102 of FIG. 21, theretailer must enter into a co-branding or services agreement with thesystem 100 manager to offer a text messaging or SMS type campaign.Further, at step 2104, the consumer desiring to use such service mustregister his/her mobile phone number as part of their personal systemprofile.

In the illustrated example, when an advertisement is run, it wouldcontain a system logo/identifier and directions that instruct consumeras to how to text a code to the system to receive more information aboutthe advertisement and/or a special offer shown in the advertisement(step 2106). Such advertisements may include print advertisements, suchas newspaper, magazine, email, mailing, outdoor advertisement, etc., ormay be a radio, television or new media advertisement, among othertypes. Consumers can then text or SMS to transmit the code to the systemmanager at step 2108. The system will then receive the code from theuser's mobile device at step 2110, match the code associated with theregistered mobile number to a consumer account at step 2112 and post therequested information or offer to the consumer's account, step 2114. Asillustrated in FIG. 20, the requested information or offer may be postedin the consumer's offer listing. Similar to other offers, as describedin connection with FIGS. 10 & 11, the targeting legends/boxes associatedwith an offer received from a consumer text request or SMS may indicateas such. In this example, the offer is identified as a “My SMS” typeoffer. The consumer may then delete, save and activate, or do nothingwith the offer, among other things, as further discussed above inconnection with FIGS. 10 & 11. Other implementations of this featurewill also be developed that capture information and offers into aconsumers account but allow for this capture to be done withtechnologies different from using cell phone SMS. One otherimplementation is that with upcoming generations of television equipmentand set top boxes that specific button(s) could be incorporated directlyinto a remote control device which can capture information into aconsumer's account at the push of a button from various ads andcommercials.

H. Digital Receipts Feature

As illustrated in FIGS. 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20, the system 100 mayinclude a feature, which in this example, is located in the personalmanagement section 1006 of the consumer interface 1000, that allows theconsumer to receive digital receipts detailing his/her purchase withparticipating service providers, retailers or manufacturers. In thisregard, digital receipts itemizing consumer transactions with specificservice providers, retails or manufacturers may be visible via aconsumer's personal system account. Use of specific payment options,coupons, loyalty cards, universal transaction card, or other means foridentifying a consumer may be utilized to trigger the transmission of adigital receipt to a consumer's account. Once received by the system,the customer may search, sort, store, download or print received digitalreceipts and may even be able to import or copy the digital transactiondata into a personal bookkeeping program.

I. On-Line Rebate Feature

As illustrated in FIGS. 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20, the system 100 mayalso include a feature, which in this example is located in the featuressection 1004 of the consumer interface 1000, that allows a consumer tolocate, submit and/or track rebate redemption offers. In this regard,rebate searches can be performed by the system based on productpurchases or specific rebate information. On-line or downloadable formscan be provided for rebated submission. Further, rebates may besubmitted on-line using digital receipts or other exhibits. Optionally,rebates may be tracked on-line as well.

Those skilled the in art will recognize that it is possible to design aconsumer interface 1000 that has a very different look and feel from theexample consumer interface illustrated above in connection with FIG.10-21. According, the example of the consumer interface of FIGS. 10-12is provided for illustrative purposes only and the invention should notbe limited to the illustrated consumer interface 1000 design.Alternative consumer interface designs performing implementation ofsimilar functionality should be considered within the scope of thisinvention.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1-21 above, the system 100 enables specializedtarget marketing across multiple channels, including, but not limitedto, online, offline, direct marking, etc., and further enables thetracking of consumer spending across multiple channels, including, butnot limited to, both on-line and offline purchases of brick and mortarretailers, as well as other on-line and off-line retailers. Accordingly,the system 100 is capable of target marketing to different retailers,service providers and manufacturer, through various channels, includingboth on-line and offline marketing and sales.

Additionally, while the system 100 may be implemented to allow consumersto initiate and track different retail transaction utilizing individualretailer offers, gift cards, coupon, store savings, etc. As discussedabove, the system 100 may also be implemented with a universaltransaction identifier associated with each consumer account that iscapable of communicating with the system 100 such that specific venderinformation may be accessible utilizing the universal transactionidentifier. Such information, when accessed, may then be applied to aconsumer transaction with the associated vendor, through the use of theuniversal transaction identifier. By way of example, in oneimplementation, the universals transaction identifier, when used by aconsumer, enables the point of sale vendor/retailer to identify theconsumer, which allows access to the program, discount and monetaryresources available to the consumer, such as gift cards, loyaltyprograms, saving, etc., as reflected in the system 100, that relate tothe transaction as a whole or the items purchased during thattransaction.

The foregoing description of an implementation has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description. It is not exhaustive and doesnot limit the claimed inventions to the precise form disclosed.Modifications and variations are possible in light of the abovedescription or may be acquired from practicing the invention. Forexample, persons skilled in the art will understand and appreciate, thatone or more processes, sub-processes, or process steps described inconnection with FIGS. 1 through 20 may be performed by hardware and/orsoftware. Additionally, a target management and consumer managementsystem, as described above, may be implemented completely in softwarethat would be executed within a processor or plurality of processors ina networked environment. Examples of a processor include but are notlimited to microprocessor, general purpose processor, combination ofprocessors, DSP, any logic or decision processing unit regardless ofmethod of operation, instructions execution/system/apparatus/deviceand/or ASIC. If the process is performed by software, the software mayreside in software memory (not shown) in the device used to execute thesoftware. The software in software memory may include an ordered listingof executable instructions for implementing logical functions, i.e.,“logic” that may be implemented either in digital form such as digitalcircuitry or source code or optical circuitry or chemical or biochemicalin analog form such as analog circuitry or an analog source such ananalog electrical, sound or video signal, and may selectively beembodied in any signal-bearing (such as a machine-readable and/orcomputer-readable) medium for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as acomputer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system thatmay selectively fetch the instructions from the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In thecontext of this document, a “machine-readable medium,”“computer-readable medium,” and/or “signal-bearing medium” (hereinafter,“Signal-Bearing Medium”) is any means that may contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The Signal-Bearing Medium may selectively be, for example but notlimited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared,or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, air, water, or propagationmedium. More specific examples, but nonetheless a non-exhaustive list,of computer-readable media would include the following: an electricalconnection (electronic) having one or more wires; a portable computerdiskette (magnetic); a RAM (electronic); a read-only memory “ROM”(electronic); an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory) (electronic); an optical fiber (optical); and a portable compactdisc read-only memory “CDROM” “DVD” (optical). Note that thecomputer-readable medium may even be paper or another suitable mediumupon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronicallycaptured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or othermedium, then compiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in a suitablemanner if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. Additionally,it is appreciated by those skilled in the art that a Signal-BearingMedium may include carrier wave signals on propagated signals intelecommunication and/or network distributed systems. These propagatedsignals may be computer, i.e., machine data signals embodied in thecarrier wave signal. The computer/machine data signals may include dataor software that is transported or interacts with the carrier wavesignal. Note also that the implementation may vary between systems. Theclaims and their equivalents define the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing to customers universalaccess to loyalty programs, wherein the loyalty programs are associatedwith a plurality of merchants, wherein each merchant of the plurality ofmerchants is able to operate its own loyalty program without sharinginformation about transactions between the merchant and said customers,the method comprising, at an enterprise infrastructure: receivingrequests from said customers, each request from a customer comprising arequest to activate a respective universal transaction identifier issuedto the customer, and in response to each such request: allocating memoryon the enterprise infrastructure, the allocated memory defining apersonal consumer system account for the customer, and automaticallyenrolling the customer in the loyalty programs using the same universaltransaction identifier of the customer to enroll the customer in theloyalty programs, and thereafter; receiving, from one of the pluralityof merchants, a targeted discount offer and the universal transactionidentifier corresponding to each customer in a set of targeted customerswho are enrolled in a merchant loyalty program of the one of theplurality of merchants and in response; storing the targeted discountoffer in the personal consumer system account of each customer in theset of targeted customers.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thecustomers are customers of one or more partner entities that partnerwith an entity that manages said enterprise infrastructure, and whereinenterprise infrastructure receives said customer requests to activatetheir respective universal transaction identifiers from respectiveservers operated by each of said partner entities.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, further comprising allocating a plurality of universaltransaction identifiers to each of said one or more partner entities,each partner entity issuing the universal transaction identifiersallocated to it to its respective customers.
 4. The method of claim 2,wherein one of said partner entities comprises a gift card issuer, acredit card issuer, a debit card issuer, a mobile telephone serviceprovider, an automobile manufacturer, a bank or other service provider.5. The method of claim 2, further comprising, at one of said partnerentities: hosting a web site to which a customer of the partner entitymay log on; and providing a link from the web site hosted by the partnerentity to the personal consumer system account on the enterpriseinfrastructure, whereby the personal consumer system account of thecustomer appears to be a part of the web site hosted by the partnerentity.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing eachcustomer in the set of targeted customers access to the targeteddiscount offer stored in the customer's personal consumer systemaccount; activating the targeted discount offer; and in response to theactivation, sending to the merchant loyalty program of the one of theplurality of merchants that provided the discount offer an indicationthat the discount offer is activated.
 7. The method of claim 6, whereinsaid access is provided via a web-based interface.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein each universal transaction identifier comprises apre-existing identifier of the customer.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein each request from one of said customers to activate thecustomer's universal transaction identifier is accompanied by a profileof said customer comprising fields of information about the customer,and wherein automatically enrolling the customer in the merchant loyaltyprogram of the one of the plurality of merchants comprises: successivelysharing fields of information from the customer's profile with themerchant loyalty program until either the customer is determined to havean existing account in the merchant's loyalty program or the customer isdetermined not to have an existing account; if the customer isdetermined to have an existing account in the merchant loyalty program,causing the customer's universal transaction identifier to be associatedwith the existing account so that it is accepted by the merchant as anidentifier of the customer within the merchant loyalty program; and ifthe customer is determined not to have an existing account in themerchant loyalty program, causing a new account to be created for thecustomer in the merchant loyalty program and causing the customer'suniversal transaction identifier to be associated with the new accountso that it is accepted by the one of the plurality of merchants as anidentifier of the customer within the merchant loyalty program.
 10. Anenterprise infrastructure for providing to customers universal access toloyalty programs, wherein the loyalty programs are associated with aplurality of merchants, wherein each customer is issued a respectiveunique universal transaction identifier, the enterprise infrastructurecomprising a processor and a memory and being configured to: receiverequests from the customers to activate their respective universaltransaction identifiers, and in response to each such request: allocatememory on a database storage system within the enterpriseinfrastructure, the allocated memory defining a personal consumer systemaccount for the customer, and automatically enroll the customer in theloyalty programs using the same universal transaction identifier of thecustomer to enroll the customer in the loyalty programs, and thereafter;receive, from one of the plurality of merchants, a targeted discountoffer and the universal transaction identifier corresponding to eachcustomer in a set of targeted customers who are enrolled in a merchantloyalty program of the one of the plurality of merchants and inresponse; store the targeted discount offer in the personal consumersystem account of each customer in the set of targeted customers. 11.The enterprise infrastructure of claim 10, wherein the enterpriseinfrastructure is operated by a first entity, wherein the customers arecustomers of a different entity that partners with the first entity, andwherein the first entity allocates to the partner entity a plurality ofuniversal transaction identifiers and the partner entity issues therespective universal transaction identifiers to each of its customers.12. The enterprise infrastructure of claim 11, wherein the customerrequests to activate their respective universal transaction identifiersare received from the partner entity on behalf of the customers.
 13. Theenterprise infrastructure of claim 10, wherein the enterpriseinfrastructure further comprises: a web server that provides eachcustomer in the set of targeted customers access to the targeteddiscount offer stored in the customer's personal consumer accountsystem, and wherein the enterprise infrastructure further operates to:activate, in the personal consumer system account, the targeted discountoffer; and in response to the activation, send to the merchant loyaltyprogram of the one of the plurality of merchants that provided thediscount offer an indication that the discount offer is activated forthe customer associated with said personal consumer system account inwhich the discount offer was activated.
 14. The enterpriseinfrastructure of claim 10, wherein each universal transactionidentifier comprises a pre-existing identifier of the customer.
 15. Theenterprise infrastructure of claim 10, wherein the request from each ofsaid customers to activate the customer's universal transactionidentifier is accompanied by a profile of said customer comprisingfields of information about the customer, and wherein the serverautomatically enrolls the customer in the merchant loyalty program ofthe one of the plurality of merchants by: successively sharing fields ofinformation from the customer's profile with the merchant loyaltyprogram until either the customer is determined to have an existingaccount in the merchant's loyalty program or the customer is determinednot to have an existing account; if the customer is determined to havean existing account in the merchant loyalty program, causing thecustomer's universal transaction identifier to be associated with theexisting account so that it is accepted by the merchant as an identifierof the customer within the merchant loyalty program; and if the customeris determined not to have an existing account in the merchant loyaltyprogram, causing a new account to be created for the customer in themerchant loyalty program and causing the customer's universaltransaction identifier to be associated with the new account so that itis accepted by the one of the plurality of merchants as an identifier ofthe customer within the merchant loyalty program.
 16. The enterpriseinfrastructure of claim 11, wherein said partner entity comprises one ofa gift card issuer, credit card issuer, a debit card issuer, a mobiletelephone service provider, an automobile manufacturer, a bank or otherservice provider.
 17. The enterprise infrastructure of claim 11, whereinthe enterprise infrastructure is configured to communicate with a secondserver at said partner entity that hosts a web site to which a customerof the partner entity may log on and that provides a link from the website hosted by the partner entity to the personal consumer systemaccount of that customer on the enterprise infrastructure, whereby thepersonal consumer system account of the customer appears to be a part ofthe web site hosted by the partner entity.
 18. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, whenexecuted by a computer, enable the computer provide to customersuniversal access to loyalty programs, wherein the loyalty programs areassociated with a plurality of merchants, wherein each merchant of theplurality of merchants is able to operate its own loyalty programwithout sharing information about transactions between the merchant andsaid customers, the instructions further causing the computer to:receive requests from said customers, each request from a customercomprising a request to activate a respective universal transactionidentifier issued to the customer, and in response to each such request:allocate memory on the database storage system within the enterpriseinfrastructure, the allocated memory defining a personal consumer systemaccount for the customer, and automatically enroll the customer in theloyalty programs using the same universal transaction identifier of thecustomer to enroll the customer in the loyalty programs, and thereafter;receive, from one of the plurality of merchants, targeted discount offerand the universal transaction identifier corresponding to each customerin a set of targeted customers who are enrolled in a merchant loyaltyprogram of the one of the plurality of merchants and in response; storethe targeted discount offer in the personal consumer system account ofeach customer in the set of targeted customers.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the customers arecustomers of one or more partner entities that partner with an entitythat manages said enterprise infrastructure, and wherein the computerreceives said customer requests to activate their respective universaltransaction identifiers from respective computers of each of saidpartner entities.
 20. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 18, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to:provide each customer in the set of targeted customers access via aweb-based interface to the targeted discount offer stored in thecustomer's personal consumer system account; activate, the targeteddiscount offer; and in response to the activation, send to the merchantloyalty program of the one of the plurality of merchants that providedthe discount offer an indication that the discount offer is activatedfor the customer associated with said personal consumer system accountin which the discount offer was activated.
 21. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 18, wherein each request from one ofsaid customers to activate the customer's universal transactionidentifier is accompanied by a profile of said customer comprisingfields of information about the customer, and wherein the instructionsthat cause the computer to automatically enroll the customer in themerchant loyalty program of the one of the plurality of merchantsfurther cause the computer to: successively share fields of informationfrom the customer's profile with merchant loyalty program of the one ofthe plurality of merchants until either the customer is determined tohave an existing account in the merchant loyalty program or the customeris determined not to have an existing account; if the customer isdetermined to have an existing account in the merchant loyalty program,cause the customer's universal transaction identifier to be associatedwith the existing account so that it is accepted by the merchant as anidentifier of the customer within the merchant loyalty program; and ifthe customer is determined not to have an existing account in themerchant loyalty program, causing a new account to be created for thecustomer in the merchant loyalty program and cause the customer'suniversal transaction identifier to be associated with the new accountso that it is accepted by the merchant as an identifier of the customerwithin the merchant loyalty program.